Christopher William Bunny Nilsson (born 16 February 1947) is a New Zealand

rower Rowing, often called crew in the United States, is the sport of racing boats using oars. It differs from paddling sports in that rowing oars (called blades in the United Kingdom) are attached to the boat using rowlocks, while paddles are ...

. Nilsson was born in 1947 in

Hastings Hastings ( ) is a seaside town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to th ...

, New Zealand. He represented New Zealand at the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and officially branded as Munich 1972 (; ), were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. It was the ...

. He is listed as New Zealand Olympian athlete number 299 by the

New Zealand Olympic Committee The New Zealand Olympic Committee (before 1994, The ''New Zealand Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association'') is both the National Olympic Committee and the Commonwealth Games Association in New Zealand responsible for selecting athletes to re ...

. He later worked as a rowing coach. He worked as a coach for the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

and then

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

. This was followed from 2004 to 2008 as coach in the New Zealand high performance rowing programme. Nilsson claims that he was driven out of the sport by fellow

rower, highly successful but controversial coach Dick Tonks. When Tonks was appointed head coach, Nilsson resigned and went to the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

References

1947 births Living people New Zealand male rowers Rowers at the 1972 Summer Olympics Olympic rowers for New Zealand Sportspeople from Hastings, New Zealand 20th-century New Zealand sportsmen {{NewZealand-rowing-bio-stub